Bend in the Weather (Entries tagged as cricket)

MythTV and scheduled recordings

mbottrell@gmail.com (Matt) — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 02:51:54 +1000

MythTV is a great Linux based DVR.
It produces excellent recordings and allows you to compress and remove commercials from your recordings using some of the post-processing commands.

One problem that has plagued me (and many others) appears to be that MythTV whilst great when recording LiveTV it has problems when attempting to schedule a recordings. This is particularly true if it's scheduled more than a few hours.

At first I thought it was a problem with the scheduler threads within MythTV, and started searching the web for a solution.
I managed to come across this solution to MythTV scheduled recordings, which appears to state that the initial video sources set-up is incorrect.
Further digging around has shown that this does appear to solve the problem for most people.

How do you undertake fixing it?

Use the "Delete all video sources" button in mythtv-setup to delete all video sources and then re-create the video sources.
Use MythTV to scan for channels.
Edit the xmltvid for each channel. You can use the process outlined in the Frontend Channel Editor.
Run a mythfilldatabase to populate your TV listings. (Tip: Use Sheperd if in Australia)
Check your listings after mythfilldatabase has run.
You should in theory be able to schedule recordings correctly now.

There are many more tips and tricks to recording under MythTV. Feel free to read more up in relation to MythTV Scheduling Recordings.

Currently I'm busily saving all the televised IPL Cricket games, so as yet, I haven't had a chance to try this out. I expect to do so in the next day or so.
If anyone does beat me to the punch, please give me some feedback as to whether it worked or not.

Hopefully this helps resolve the scheduling frustrations many people currently face.

Happy Recording!

IPL and MythTV recording exports

mbottrell@gmail.com (Matt) — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 00:35:40 +1000

IPL doesn't stand for Initial Program Load to non-geeks.... it doesn't even stand for the IBM Public License.

Ask any Indian and they will tell you it most certainly stands for the Indian Premier League. Many would be excused for confusing it with the English Premier League as an Indian version of the famous English football competition.

Whilst it is a professional sports league, it has nothing to do with football (or soccer for those inclined). Though it does actually spring from another English sport -- cricket.

The Indian Premier League is basically a Twenty20 competition (20 overs per side). With 8 teams and stars from around the world of the game of cricket contracted to play. Many are on large money deals after the players were auctioned off.

You're asking what on earth does this have to do MythTV?! A good question indeed!

If you take a look at any TV guide you'll find from around 12:15am each night on Channel 10 for the next 40 odd days that you'll see an entry into the wee hours for IPL. It's being broadcast live into Australia (and around the world for that matter). Being live and timezones what they are means the games start extremely late.

A Twenty20 game is normally over in 3-3.5 hours... but that means in order to watch the game you won't be heading to bed until 4am. (Not really good if you're wanting to work the next day). Even worse if there is a double-header that night!

MythTV comes to the rescue... I just schedule to record the show and watch it in a more Australian Friendly timezone.

However recording 43 days worth of 3-3.5 hour shows does indeed chew a lot of disk space (particularly when recording HDTV!)

In order to get around this I convert the recorded shows in xvid format. Whilst the quality is probably no-where as great as HDTV, it's still very watchable (in fact my blind eyes actually don't tell the difference most of the time!)

I convert the nuv (MythTVs MPEG2 streams+recording info file format) into xvid avis using nuvexport.
I've played around with various settings and have the following works extremely well for me.

It ensures I get:

A good crisp image for sports action (fast moving action).
Reasonable sound.
Most importantly, a reasonably sized file so I can store up weeks of games to watch at my choosing.

Here is the settings I utilise:

Where would you like to export the files to? [/var/lib/mythtv/recordings/transcode]
Enable Myth cutlist? [No]
Enable noise reduction (slower, but better results)? [No]
Enable deinterlacing? [Yes]
Crop broadcast overscan border (0-5%) ? [1.5]
Audio bitrate? [128]
Variable bitrate video? [Yes]
Multi-pass (slower, but better quality)? [Yes]
Video bitrate? [768]
Default resolution based on requested dimensions.
Width? [624]
Height? [352]

This then converts the file from the MPEG2 stream -> xvid avi at around 45fps for me (YMMV depending on the CPU grunt you have available). It also produces an excellent 16:9 video that is perfect to watch on my wide-screen TV.

Once done, I then use avidemux to seek through the avi file (using the seek black frame options) to discover where the adverts are and remove them.

I find this approach is much more reliable then using MythTVs commercial advert detection and cutlists. Whilst it takes a while, and can be tedious the results are much more impressive.

I now find I can watch a game of cricket much faster, without interruption and without the crazy commentator 'analysis' during the game/change of innings.

It's the only way to watch the IPL!

So next time you need to record on your MythTV box, look at exporting it. nuvexport supports are range of formats including:

XviD
SVCD
VCD
DVCD (VCD with 48kHz audio for making DVDs)
DVD
DivX
ASF
MP3
PSP (disabled)
MP4 (iPod)
Export to .nuv and .sql

It also means you should be able to spit it out on a format you prefer. Whether that be onto a DVD, Xvid or even an MP4 for portable watching. PSP isn't currently supported and is documented on their website.

It's one way to ensure you have a great library of recorded shows at your disposal, but not eating a large amount of disk space.

I'm sure that whilst many of you might not be interested in the cricket (yeah I know I'm a sad individual), you can find a great way to reduce your MythTV disk usage... meaning you can record a lot more.

For those wishing to import the exported recording back into MythTV take a read of Jeffery Fernandez's excellent blog entry on just the thing.

A week isn't weak

mbottrell@gmail.com (Matt) — Tue, 17 Jan 2006 23:27:28 +1100

It's been a week since my last blog entry!

Since that time I've been enjoying the rest. I haven't started looking at present for another role but will commence with that as of tomorrow.
I'm not too concerned, as it's traditionally a quiet month and December was very hectic so it's likely that February will also do well.

The role at Coles-Myer didn't eventuate... though that's not such a bad thing.

What have I been doing in the interim? Well enjoying life... have watched some of the cricket, and much of the tennis (for those that don't know the Australian Tennis Open is on in Melbourne ... so it means we get to watch it in prime-time.

I've also been doing some work on my brother-in-law's notebook to ready it for Internet use (It didn't have any patches and have never stepped near the Internet). Why?! His desktop has died so we ordered him a new one, so his notebook (normally used for tuning his cars) was rushed into commission.

A day and a half later it was right to go! That's what happens when you have numerous updates, service packs and the like to go on a PII-300 running WinXP!

Not much else to report... will be doing some website coding for some new stuff released later this month. More news as it comes along.

Free the wires

mbottrell@gmail.com (Matt) — Thu, 29 Dec 2005 13:28:44 +1100

Recently we purchased a notebook.

Yesterday Pauline and I picked up a Wireless Access Point so we can use the laptop around the house without the need for an ethernet cable.

We've purchased a D-Link DI-524 Wireless Access Point, which is capable of 802.11b and 802.11g.

I'm sitting here typing away on the notebook whilst watching the cricket and being connected to our LAN at a very nice 54MB/sec!

It certainly makes programming and working on the Internet much more pleasant.

ODI Series finishes in a whitewash.

mbottrell@gmail.com (Matt) — Mon, 10 Oct 2005 13:05:33 +1000

Well it appears "The World is not enough", and it could very well be "The end of the World".

This series was supposed to challenge the Australian Cricket Team's dominance of the ODI game over the last decade.

It appears that a team of champions certainly doesn't create a champion team. The ODI team that played for the World XI were undone at all levels. The Australian team dominated all areas, including: fielding, batting and bowling.

The scores speak for themselves:
1^st ODI
Aus 8/255 (50 overs completed)
WXI 162 (all out at 41.3 overs

Australia win by 93 runs

2^nd ODI
Aus 4/328 (50 overs completed)
WXI 273(all out at 45.3 overs)

Australia win by 55 runs

3^rd ODI
Aus 5/293 (50 overs completed)
WXI 137(all out at 27.5 overs)

Australia win by 156 runs

There was talk that the 'best of the world' would be able to get into the heads of the Aussies after such a disappointing series in England.
They were hoping to worry them and take this pressure back to their national sides. It now sees this is unlikely, and the strong performances in the ODI are likely to be standing for a while.

The WXI failed to bat through one entire 50-over innings at all, with the Australians managing it *every time*. You just can't win ODIs without batting through your overs. Many of the WXI were soft dismissals. It sort of begs to question is this series of any 'value' to any of the WXI players? Probably not... though it should as the stats count. Careers are made and lost on batting/bowling stats these days!

The Australians have the mental edge. It's only been matched by the English during the Ashes series... (which they deservingly won!).

Now we move to the 6-day test match at Sydney. This is where the real excitement will be.
It was the loss of the Ashes in the test arena that has really undone the Aussies and made huge dents in their egos and self-belief.

After the loss we had many calling for wide sweeping changes, the sacking of the coach and captain. It will be very interesting to see how the Test team respond.

They do have the momentum at present. It will be very interesting to see if they can turn that into a resounding win.

Australia bounce back

mbottrell@gmail.com (Matt) — Thu, 06 Oct 2005 16:32:38 +1000

Those that know me, know I'm a mad sports nut!

Football season (AFL, NRL, Super12) has all finished, and now cricket season is starting to fire!

After being crushed by the English with this years ashes series the Australian team started to look and play their age.

The current ICC Super Series appeared to all that it was going to be a white-wash for the visitors.
The Super Series pits the best one day and test team in the world against the combined efforts of a 'global team' - taking the best players from all the other teams to field the best opposition.

The first game turned out a bit of a fizzer. Whilst the result was unexpected (Australian easily won by 93 runs), the series lacked any spark.

Partly due to the empty stadium (only 18,000 attended). I'm not really surprised by the amount that is charged for this series.

D Reserve
Adult $46.00
Child U16 $23.00
Concession/Pensioner $34.50
Family Pack $115.00
Series Pass $115.00

C Reserve
Adult $66.00
Child U16 $33.00
Concession/Pensioner $49.50
Family Pack $165.00
Series $165.00

B Reserve
Adult $89.00
Series $222.50

A Reserve
Adult $125.00
Series $312.50

This is just for a one-day match! (Or 3 ODI's if you pay for the 'series' tickets).

The average punter with say 2 adults and 2 children aren't going to sell out close to $140 for a one day event!

If the ICC and Cricket Australia want the Melbourne sporting people to come out to the ground they need to look at setting more realistic prices.

No-one would mind paying $20-$30 for an adult ticket... but anything more is plain greedy.

This mad cricket lover would love to see the Rest of the World XI take on Australia... but inflated prices, I'll listen to the radio, use CricInfo and watch the full coverage on TV... all free!